A barn owl rescued from a Bunnings store after nine days trapped inside sadly died 30 minutes later from starvation.
Animal rescuer Nigel Williamson with the barn owl he rescued at a Bunnings in Melbourne. Tragically, the bird died from starvation, not long after being saved
The barn owl was found to be 50 per cent under its normal weight. Mr Williamson said every second counts when an animal is trapped
According to Mr Williamson, Wildlife Victoria told Bunnings they couldn’t send anyone out to help and that the store needed to find a professional wildlife catcher.
No-one was available to rescue the owl until Mr Williamson was recommended for the job
Shoppers noticed the owl and posted about it on social media
Bunnings called him straight away and provided a scissor lift and operator to help catch the bird.
Because the lift can’t be used around shoppers for safety reasons, the rescue started at 9pm – but by then the bird had moved.
The owl was able to be saved by Mr Williamson once it relocated to a lower rack in the shop